islamic militants threaten to carry out more terror attacks in retaliation for the french campaign in mali accusing paris of a crusade. the german coalition government fails to impose and important tasks months ahead of the national parliamentary vote. christian democrats lose ground to the social democrats opposition in regional elections. and as israel prepares for its own parliamentary poll on tuesday we report on why many in the country are growing increasingly frustrated with the policies of the party that said to win the vote.

live from our studios in central moscow you're watching r r c with me and he said now it's good to have you with us four pm here in the russian capital let's get straight to our top story and the islamic terrorist cell allegedly responsible for the deadly siege in algeria says france is carrying out a crusader campaign in the region almost sixty hostages were killed after militants captured a remote gas plant in retaliation for the ongoing french intervention in neighboring mali well the islamists claim they wanted to negotiate the release of their captives but the offer was turned down but the algerian military deciding to storm the facility causing a bloodbath more terror attacks have now been promised and less friend. and the

campaign in north africa some of the hostage takers were militants from libya where paris helped islamists topple the late colonel gadhafi who had warned of an impending al qaeda surge in the region marty is probably has more you want to peace you wanted freedom you wanted economic progress france great britain europe will always stand by the libyan people but a regional crisis probably wasn't what mr sarkozy anticipated when he was spearheading the military operation to topple moammar gadhafi although the former french president current say that he had been warned personally i play a significant role in establishing peace in those regions of africa should the situation in libya be unstable al qaeda will establish its rule bin laden will return and libya will be another afghanistan terrorists will flood to europe cut to

paris and almost two years later markets after his words could well be ringing in the areas of need what i saw was the successor francois hollande having just sent troops to mali france's new leader could well be learning that every action has a reaction not only to the french intervention in libya not help the democratic position proses which is what they said they were after but it in fact it opened up the floodgates for weapons stockpiles and fighters to leave the country and go south of the border. to mali where the recently deployed french military were reportedly stunned by the technologically advanced weapons that are in the hands of their adversaries nobody seems to think that perhaps organized groups can come from somewhere other than mali it seems they came across the nearby libyan border libya is as i say central to all this problem because all the lot of weapons have been produced by the collapse of the darfur sheen but also by the complete failure to

establish any kind of real state you have essentially walls operating in different parts of libya and you have across much of this hour a situation where people have arguments where very little civic sense so bribery and corruption order grabs is common place gadhafi was bitter opponent all right it was ahmed groups whatever his faults and they now have the ability to use the chaos in libya to provide themselves the bases the fast effects were immediate a hostage crisis in algeria said to be in retaliation for the french offensive in mali has already claimed the lives of dozens of civilians taken captive i'm frightened of terrorism but this is always been a problem for france whether it's iraq or sarkozy i'm french i was born here and live here my culture is french but my origins are there and if i was there i wouldn't like another country telling me what to do we're scared of anything that threatens us france's global allies are showing signs of being sucked into the mali

conflict fresh prime minister david cameron has already acknowledged that battling radical insurgency in the region could take decades rather than months and all this so that france can remedy the knock on effects from its libyan intervention polyploid ati paris. german chancellor angela merkel's coalition has suffered a blow ahead of the parliamentary election later this year they've been defeated in a key regional vote losing one seat in the lower saxony and the disappointing result potentially puts merkel in a vulnerable position ahead of september's general election in which she seeks to win a third term in office peter all over reports on the fragile support for the german leader both at home and abroad. it's the thirteenth setback in local elections that angle merkel's christian democrat party and their coalition partners

the free democrats have suffered it's also more importantly the fifth. the fifth state government which they've lost to the social democrats since two thousand and nine this vote in lower saxony which is the fourth most populous state in germany it seemed very much as a bellwether of opinion and it was incredibly tight well it was by one seat and what it does mean though even by the smallest of margins the social democrats well they smell blood heading into the general election their candidate for the chancellorship steinbach said this well this shows that a change of government and power is possible this year what's interesting when you look at this particular particular local election is the euro zone crisis really didn't come into it this was a local election where people were voting on local issues now it's in that area where mrs merkel is starting to show some weaknesses as it were and her christian democratic party and their coalition partners but she still has this personal

appeal as the leader because of what she's done for the eurozone crisis but of course that isn't mirrored when you look around the rest of europe particularly in countries like greece where we've seen burned in effigy and even compared to adult hitler because the greek people they see angela merkel as the main person behind the austerity that they're having to live through so her popularity abroad personally isn't particularly great when it comes to the eurozone crisis however germans are happy with the way that she's managed this crisis and managed germany's economy throughout it but as i say it's going to come down to whether she can convince the german people that she's the right person to manage german interests at home as well as those abroad whether she can win not third term towards the end of this year. now with a general election looming in israel polls predict there will be little changes to the makeup of the country's parliament their forecasts are promising the return of

prime minister binyamin netanyahu is right wing the coup party or the many voters apathetic and disillusioned parties policy or reports the countdown has begun but instead of scanning the papers to brush up on who's saying what in the final hours before his radios head to the polls. is searching for an apartment the twenty eight year old is desperate to move out of his parents' home but times are tough and he blames the government but i'm not going to vote i see who are the candidates and there is no one standing who represents me or who can change the general mood in the country with the recent political jostling that's all candidates move from one party to another in joost even more pissed him as i'm in people like musharraf who have lost trust in israeli politicians the union between bibi netanyahu and his foreign minister avigdor lieberman in two biederman government the return of c.p.b. to me former opposition leader back into the fray just a few months after announcing her time and only frustrated and already eviction

where we public many israelis don't believe that the present politicians and parties. have any really new solutions to the big problems facing israel security spirit economic issues. but among all the uncertainty one thing is certain for the disenchanted voters and it can work and i also feel like the outcome is pre-determined everyone knows not to know who is going to win for them or the apathy based on the belief that netanyahu will almost certainly when has led expects to worry about the state of his way to democracy. there are some populations designing these really society if you take a certain sort of truth box presenters that turns out to vote is very high it's above eighty on the other hand when you look at the middle class the youth and the arabs the presenters is around sixty. and those figures only help netanyahu and his allies of course there are parties who are ready to oppose the

government's policies one of their merits boasts that a vote for them is a secure vote against netanyahu and a leadership that will destroy israel first of all are is aleisha in the war will continue. there will be no worse solution to the palestinian problem and the economic and social gaps between rich and poor will get to march why they are in deeper such merits as expected to win only around five percent of the votes in a record field of fifty four parties that are running in these elections netanyahu is party is expected to get only about a quarter of the seats in the parliament but with other political forces being shattered into rival factions this is still going to be enough for him to continue in power the coalition effort on yahoo is expected to build would have a very slim majority but it would still give him the mandate he needs to map out this country's next four years but the paradox of this election is that the candidate say to when is not particularly liked by most of the country policy r.t.

tel aviv. will be closely watching the israeli elections all day on tuesday bring your very own in-depth coverage as voters go to the ballot box all across the land including a special film about the country and some of its top issues. i'm here with some investors from england ok i'm here to share a new bio most of my books are doing this area in the north georgia. not here no exception occupation distinct solution to carry the weight of the world starts you're so beautiful all of us in our. own car. now there are just uninhabited rocks in the remote south china sea but they're dragging in three big world powers into a d. printing rao china is blaming the u.s. for beijing's ongoing standoff with japan over the archipelago its in the wake of

secretary of state hillary clinton's assurance of to tokyo american support a warning china against any unilateral action in the dispute starting to have you running high for several months with both ways and states reportedly gearing up their militaries the founder of international strategic alliances says american interference is just fueling the plans. for the us has this role of being the policeman around the world and spreading the military forces all around the world now can they afford it but that's a different question because it seems a in order to to meet their military budget which is ever increasing they're probably going to have to borrow the money and most likely they'll be borrowing the money from the chinese china has. been. asking japan to recognize and negotiate rather than rushing ratcheting up the

change and of course japan and inviting electing it's not going to help because it is very well known. in this particular situation and the u.s. for its own strategic reason view japan as to prefer l.-i and that's what kin agree is friction but i am not sure that i think cooler heads will will come and not go to war over these little specks of violence certainly china has never been. the aggressor in terms of in terms of these disputes. now on the home front in america it's almost time to set out the second term stall with barack obama to deliver on the next four years of his presidency whether we'll walk i should say whether he can live up to his promises coming up.

welcome back you're watching our live from the russian capital with me and he said now it's good to have you with us rock obama is officially at the helm of the u.s. government for another four years after being sworn in at the white house all eyes will be on the american president later this monday when he outlines his second term plans in his inaugural speech obama's first four years showed he wasn't doing rel by failing to keep some of his pledges pledges and it's to can questions if it's a trend that's here to stay. it's generally thought that a second term six u.s. president walks those handcuffs that kept them from doing great things in their

first term because they had to think about getting reelected all the time in the last four years we've heard many times president obama's hands are tied on this issue word that issue suppose this election has on tied his hands we don't have a crystal ball to tell you what he's going to do with those three presidential hands but we may already see signs of what is to come president obama steps into his second term carrying a heavy load of promises along with the pledge the threat of another devastating war in the middle east for four years president obama pushed to a great extent by israel as war with iran i will take no options off the tape and what i see. some believe the appointment of chuck hagel as defense secretary who is known to have been against a strike on iran may be a sign that the new obama administration will be less warmongering towards the word but two of the country's leading middle east experts orange convinced vision i

would bet a certain amount of money we will hear the words all options are on the table coming out of his come out of his mouth in addition to the point that we have the appointment of john brennan at the cia who i think is someone who the israelis are just fine with who will continue many of the covert programs of course or drone program but many of the covert programs that would be under his under his authority at the cia that will be very much to israel's liking will serve to undermine any attempts or any possibilities for. coming to terms of the islamic republic of iran john brennan has been in charge of president obama's targeted assassinations program is a point of push the notorious war on terror in a different perspective and shows that it's far from over they want wars that will not redound against them at home politically so they don't want any more body bags they don't want more american troops. killed to the extent they want to prevent that they want to have all the soldiers sitting in alexandria virginia or los

angeles or whatever and running the brony that are killing people whether it's afghanistan or yemen or iran or you know were else however over the next four years the administration's reach will extend far beyond the middle east as it is said to continue its pivot to asia as well as building a missile shield provocatively close to russia's borders last year in a hot mike moment president obama told russia's made that event if that in his second term he'd be more flexible to discuss moscow close circuit. but it could turn out to be flexibility to words only president action believe russia is still out of the opposed to it still sees it as some we're just going to go a little while president obama may have more control over foreign policy domestically there is a greater chance of his agenda getting bogged down in congress like gun control and the executive orders are useless and legislative proposals and i suspect will not

pass in this country i don't think it's in the offing and you were in the near future because we are a culture that is very deeply. in love with our guns in the last four years congress more than was attempted to sabotage the president on key economic issues including reaching a last minute deal as the country teetered on the edge of fiscal cliff presidents who have trouble with congress like to do international things because they have to worry about congress much less the president's actions so far have show little possibility that in the next four years he will be any more flexible on major foreign policy issues as far as the mess that the genda many doubt whether he's never ending battle with congress will allow him to move significantly beyond inspiring speeches in washington on kind of. obama is likely to fail and his second attempt at change that's according to antiwar activists john

gray sir. as is typical with politicians what they say is very different from what they do there is a broad bipartisan consensus on some of the most terrible. national security issues that affect us on the domestic front i mean for example warrantless wiretapping this is a policy that was why is it lee criticize when the bush administration was in power and now the obama administration has you know uniformly embraced it the obama administration has aggressively refused to allow any checks and balances and has even refused congressional requests to disclose how many americans have been spied on so things like that i mean a really troubling and i don't think he's going to get as much pushback from congress as as one might hope in the foreign policy realm obama as unfortunately continued much of his predecessor's excesses and recklessness we will see a continuation of foreign policy of extreme interventionism getting involved in

every corner of the planet regardless of the consequences. when i return back to our top story this hour the aftermath of the deadly hostage siege in algeria carried out by islamist terrorists in retaliation for the french campaign in mali live to a former british ambassador to algeria graeme han. from london thank you for being with us with us ambassador several british civilians were among those killed during the gas plant takeover will go in continue do you think to support the french intervention in mali despite the threats of more attacks. so i think the united kingdom will continue to support the french intervention i imagine that the british government will also want to support our friends in algeria in any way that they might ask mr. david cameron has said that the fight against islamic terrorists in north africa could take decades can britain really afford to get

involved like they did in afghanistan which i should mention of course started out with george bush saying that we would be in and out. well politicians tend always to say we'll be in and then we'll be in sync mr cameron knows that this will take time i don't imagine that he is thinking of committing british ground troops to north africa but there's a lot we can do in terms of intelligence technology logistics i think it does have to be done the question really is how can we afford not to. there was the thought that france went in because of possible uranium resources there what is britain's interests that. well i think britain's interest is in having stability on the if you like the southern front flank of nato just across the mediterranean from from western europe. i don't accept these conspiracy theories about minerals i think

it's really about knowing that we have we have stable neighbors stable neighbors but at the same time britain openly backs rebels who are known to have sort of attachments to al qaeda and other islamist groups there so where then is the consistency. sort of what rebel groups of those in syria. yes well if i say read anything that is more of a geo political in terms of security and not resources so where then why yes in syria no in algeria in mali. well i think it's a different story this is not. an al-qaeda linked islam the stop rising in syria it's all been repeated who want a different life they want to be rid of a tyrant. in charge of them and this will solve itself

apparently without any intervention from the outside i think the story in mali is completely different this is. foreign intervention by the al-qaeda linked terrorists themselves this is not on just mali i'm striving to change the government what about the reports that we're hearing about where some of these islamists in algeria if we could move to there in the hostage crisis where they got their weapons from because there are reports and it's it's sort of known by critics that those weapons came from libya and the attempts there to push out gadhafi gadhafi went there were arsenals there and all of these weapons flowing into the region in neighboring countries. actually the to my knowledge the algerian rebels are fairly well armed anyway because they have been fighting the government in algiers as you probably know since one nine hundred ninety these islamist rebels but of course the supply of weapons from libya can only make matters worse. the

u.k. says there won't be any british boots on the ground so to say but we've already seen footage of armed british soldiers on u.k. cargo planes flying french hardware to mali is there a feeling that london might not be coming clean about all the facts oh i think you know in a democracy people have to come clean it's clear that you don't send your airplanes into a war zone without ensuring they have some sort of protection so there will be people on board who are armed but that's a whole different thing to having. fighting on the ground with with an organized and large body of troops. we're turning to david cameron and him saying that this could take decades years certainly kind of this overall fight against islamist in north africa west africa in the entire region if we look at the at the u.s. and their war against terror and how washington sort of moved on to passing laws

that would allow for measures such as wiretapping and indefinite detention without charge or trial are there any fears the same could happen in europe if this is to miss the threat does as late as has been predicted by officials like david cameron this is a very hard question to answer i think it's a good question you know if you if you get into a situation where your existence is threatened then i think. certain democratic rights may have to go by the board that was certainly true during the second world war but we're a long way from that sort of problem in western europe and i for one i think many people in western europe would be very very worried by indefinite detention and torture and all that sort of seeing which you know basically undermines democracy. algeria is the third biggest gas supplier to europe if this is the most insurgency does ask a late what effect do you think that might have on your rights energy and economies

especially at this very difficult time for the euro. well there is a serious threat you know we no one can say that gas or all supplies have been interfered with yet but if the islamist terrorists get the idea that they should interfere with them then i'm afraid they can because a lot of these pipelines are just run along the desert. so i think if that were to become a feature of islamist terrorism in algeria for sure it would have an effect in western europe but it's hard to quantify. just finally as a diplomat your personal opinion how long do you think we'll see this kind of intervention in mali. how far well i think. it's a huge area mali is huge algeria is bigger there's a lot of places for insurgents terrorists call them what you will to hollywood i think this will take years i don't know if mr cameron's ten years is pessimistic or

optimistic but i would say years all right live from london british former british ambassador to algeria joining us graham hand thank you very much for your time thank you well as one president's welcomed back another is being told to head for the exits thousands have rallied in front of me suckers for these palace in tbilisi georgia for you today we tell you why they're telling him it's time to go. russia's federal security bosses have been tasked with creating a brand new system to prevent cyber crime find out more on what that will involve at our tea dot com. coming up here on r t peter lavelle and his guests discuss whether russia is a lucrative p.r. brand that's in crosstalk.

georgian president mikheil saakashvili is military police have been accused by prosecutors of using a very unusual weapon to control members of the government a weapon so unusual that history great villains wouldn't even touch it that weapon was almost sexuality the georgian prosecutor's office claims a network of gay spies was set up to seduce certain politicians in order to surveil them and blackmail them the gay spies would tempt men in the government into going back to their apartments which were filled with hidden cameras and microphones to record information and create a not safe for work video to be used to put pressure on these officials this is truly one of the most unique and kind of gross weapons of political intrigue i.